Recent Articles

Days Away

October 13, 2008 19:18

It's October 13th, and the first 2008 Annual Meeting sessions will begin in one week. Here at ACC headquarters, we're working hard to ensure that this meeting is as great as every other. The education and events staff leaves for Seattle this week to make sure that all logistics are covered. Months...

Different Methods of Billing: Fixed Rate

October 08, 2008 18:10

The NEO ACCA presenters offered a number of examples of new arrangements for billing. I have categorized them into three categories, none of which should be surprising. They are fixed rate, contingency and fixed rate-contingency. Another hybrid is the addition of hourly billing as a part of the...

Who Supports The Billable Hour?

October 08, 2008 01:38

I attended a NEO ACCA conference on alternatives to the billable hour a few days ago. In the next few blogs I will share some impressions, observations and thoughts. First, let me make an observation.—it was fortunate I went because I contributed to making the audience slightly larger than the...

Flawed Business Models?

October 01, 2008 20:46

In the last week or so, we discovered that an entire banking model, the investment bank was a flawed business model. The last of the two investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reconstituted themselves into regulated bank holding companies.In my last blog I suggested ,based on what was...

Revolutionary Change vs. Evolutionary Change

September 29, 2008 14:49

Are these competing forces or can we implement both, resulting in a longneed change in the in-house/outside counsel relationship? We have a 20thcentury structure trying to hold up a 21st century market. The seams aregiving way and cracks are in the foundation. We can no longer patch italong the...

Value Challenge Launched - Streaming Live from www.acc.com

September 26, 2008 15:36

Today, ACC launches it's Value Challenge- a program designed to create a constructive dialog and practical resources that help lawyers better align legal costs with client objectives and the value of the services provided. About Value Challenge Listen to the Launch (LIVE today at 1pm EST)Read...

How Do You Blog When The Financial System Is Apparently Collapsing Around You?

September 25, 2008 18:44

First, I did not know that Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke were reading my blog—when I advocated a bailout for everybody I was joking. Apparently, they took me seriously or at least they are trying to do it for the entire financial industry.Is there a lesson in this for lawyers? Remember the days...

Words, Words, Words

September 24, 2008 19:45

In my last few blogs, I have been describing how we lawyers have used words to substitute for or manipulate reality, and how Judge Posner even wrote a book about it.My last blog described how Hank Greenberg used words to draw an artificial distinction between the financial conditions of Lehman and...

Plasticity of Legal Rhetoric

September 23, 2008 15:55

That phrase, “Plasticity of Legal Rhetoric” is not mine, but Judge Posner’s which he uses in his book, “Overcoming Law. However, I had recognized the concept long before I read it in Posner’s book, which, in fact, had been brought to my attention by a judge friend of mine who had been subjected to...

The Rule of Three I’s

September 19, 2008 11:54

This rule is attributed to Warren Buffett, but I do not know that to be true. When I heard about it, I immediately thought about they way lawyers draft contractsThe rule says first come innovators, second there are imitators and finally come idiots. The commentator who described this rule and...